Sully Historic Site

Sully Historic Site. . , The history of the house built at Sully by Richard Bland Lee in 1794 intertwines closely with that of northern Virginia. Surrounded today by acres of grassy fields, the house and its various owners witnessed many changes during the centuries., Sully was a well-established farm when the American Civil War brought social and economic upheaval to the region in 1861. By the mid-1900s, Sully had evolved from a working farm to a country retreat., Locating Dulles International Airport just across Route 28 threatened to destroy the house and its outbuildings. Local citizens, led by Eddie Wagstaff, partnered with the Fairfax County Park Authority to save the historic property in 1959., Nowadays, visitors to Sully Historic Site are able to step back in time to a slower way of life, and enjoy tours showcasing Sully's architecture, historic furnishings, and garden of heirloom plants., Sully's Federal-style house was built in 1794. Many of its building materials were shipped in from Philadelphia. The distinctive red fieldstone used in the construction of several of its outbuildings was quarried nearby., Richard Bland Lee, the builder of Sully, was Virginia's first representative to the newly formed U.S. Congress. In the late 1790s, he supported moving the federal government from Philadelphia to a site alongside the Potomac River. Lee and his wife, Elizabeth Collins Lee, left Sully in 1811. They spent their later years in the nation's new capital, Washington City, District of Columbia, just 30 miles east of Sully.